Mickey+Apodaca


 * SUMMARY: Raymond Showery performed an abortion on 28-year-old Mickey Apodaca at his Southside Medical Center in El Paso, TX. Mickey died on April 11, 1984.**

Abortionist Raymond E. Showery (pictured) was out on bail appealing a murder conviction when he performed the safe, legal abortion that killed 28-year-old Mickey Jean Watkins Apodaca.

Mickey, a divorced mother of four, went to Showery's Southside Medical Center in El Paso for an abortion on April 11, 1984. She was about 19 weeks pregnant, and arrived at 8:30 a.m. for the abortion that she'd scheduled during a preliminary visit to Showery's hospital on March 17. She wasn't taken back for her abortion until after 2:00 p.m.

Showery's defense team said that Mickey was not bleeding excessively immediately after her abortion, which they say took between 45 minutes to an hour to perform but that a nurse discovered the hemorrhage, and Mickey was taken into the operating room for a transfusion. However, Showery would not provide Mickey's records to the Grand Jury on the grounds that they might incriminate him. (Photo: Louis Akin, an investigator for Showery's defense team, talks to the press at the abortion facility.)

It turns out that during the abortion, Showery had torn a hole in Mickey's uterus and severed a uterine artery. Mickey [|hemorrhaged] for two hours before she was transferred to a hospital, where she died during an emergency hysterectomy.

The prosecution charged that Showery used inadequately trained staff, failed to properly treat the injuries he'd caused Mickey, delayed treatment, and delayed transfer to a hospital.

Showery performed Mickey's fatal abortion while out on bail pending appeal for his murder conviction. Several of Showery's employees had gone to the police and reported that Showery had drowned a baby girl who had survived a 1979 abortion.

Showery was held pending $1 million dollars bail while awaiting trial for manslaughter in Mickey's death. While he was in prison, local pro-choicers rallied outside with signs asserting that Showery was "a good man" and that he "helps the poor." The fact that he helped Mickey Apodaca straight into an early grave was lost on them.

Sources:
 * "Texas Doctor Gets 15 Years for Murder in 1979 Abortion," [|//New York Times// 9-29-83]
 * "Follow Up on the News; Abortion Sequel 2," [|//New York Times// 4-29-84]
 * //Des Moines Register// 5-5-84;
 * //El Paso Times// 4-26-84, 6-5-84,
 * //Dallas Morning News// 4-18-84, 4-20-84, 5-3-84,
 * //Longview Morning Journal// 5-6-84,
 * //Dallas Times-Herald// 4-14-84
 * "Arraignment set in abortion -manslaughter case," Dallas Morning news, May 5, 1974
 * "Abortion doctor gets indictment in patient's death," Mobile (AL) Register, May 4, 1984
 * "Manslaughter charges dropped against imprisoned abortion doctor," //Galveston Daily News//, Oct. 11, 1987



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